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Latest news /Head Teachers Newsletter
News Letter 7 2016

 

Dear Parents/ Carers,

We are now well into 2016 and the spring term which is traditionally a busy time for our senior pupils as they finish assignments and prepare for any SQA exams they may have.  Our S4 pupils have completed their prelims and have made plans to help them achieve their best in the SQA exams in May.  S5/6 are midway through that process with their parents evening on Monday 29th February. S1-S3 have parents’ evening on Monday 7th March, you should be hearing from Personal Support Tutors about these over the next few weeks.

School Uniform

The school uniform is modelled below by Callum, S2 and Abbie, S4.  The uniform consists of blazer, white shirt, black skirt or trousers (not jeans), junior(S1-3) or senior (S4-6) tie and black shoes.  Please support the school by ensuring your child wears their uniform every day.  Outdoor jackets are fine but should be replaced with the blazer when in school.

Uniform buying days have been agreed as follows:

Thursday, 26/05/16, P7 parents evening

Wednesday, 18/05/2016, fittings and sales 3.05pm – 5.00pm

Thursday, 02/06/2016, fitting and sales 3.05pm – 5.00pm

Tuesday, 09/08/2016, collections and Sales 10.00am – 12.00pm             

The school has arranged for a blazer badge to be available separately to enable parents to purchase a more reasonably priced blazer and attach the badge this will be available for £6.  In addition to this all new pupils to S1 will receive a recycled tie, as will the new S4, as part of our drive to be an ECO school and to reduce the cost of the school day for parents.

Celebrating Success

The Academy is hugely proud of Darren Edision S5 who has been selected from thousands of Scottish candidates to participate in the Scottish Space School at Strathclyde University for a week in June.  Well done Darren!!

House System

With the launch of the updated Glasgow City Council Every child is included and supported: Getting it right in Glasgow, the nurturing city policy the school is revisiting how we support our pupils and families.  We are going to move our pastoral care system from a year-group structure to a house structure.  Our reasons for doing so are as follows:

·         Every pupil will have the same pastoral care teacher from S1-S6 – who will be the named person for your child and will know them well.

·         Families will be allocated to the same pastoral care teacher meaning better and more efficient communication between home and school.

·         To build community/ team spirit amongst our pupils and to support promotion of positive recognition and ethos (house points/ house cup/ house captains etc).

Although there will be initial changes as we allocate pupils and families to houses there will be continuity of pastoral care thereafter and the transition period will be as smooth as we can make it.

Pupils will be given the opportunity after assemblies next week to work in their personal support classes to decide upon famous historical Scots that we could name the houses after.  There will then be a whole school election for the house names.

If you wish any further information regarding this change please do not hesitate to contact Mr Macpherson or myself at the school.

Maths Study Weekend

The Maths Department will be running the annual Blairvadach Study Weekend from Friday 1 April to Sunday 3 April. This is open to S4-6 students being presented for SQA exams this year. The weekend is a mixture of maths revision combined with outdoor activities and plenty of fun.  Cost is £70, for letters or further details see Mr McGarvie or Mrs Coyle. Limited spaces so book your place ASAP.

Caledonian University: ‘Think Ahead’ Project

All S3 pupils were given the opportunity to visit Glasgow Caledonian University for a full day.  The project targets pupils at a key stage of their educational journey, when they are preparing to make subject choices.

One of the aims of the visit was to raise awareness of the various pathways into education and employment.  Students, currently at university, work with pupils to help them understand the educational choices they can make when looking forward to their future.

Supported Study Programme

Supported study is offered every evening, for an hour after the school day, most subject areas are included. The library is also open from the end of the school day to 5pm with the last hour for senior pupils only. A summary of subjects on offer is in the table below.

Mon

Tues

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Art

Biology

Fashion

English

Business Admin

Maths

Music

PE

WWS

RMPS

German

History

Chemistry

Biology

History

Mod Studs

RMPS

Business

Maths

Music

Photography

PE

ESOL

 

English

French

Hospitality

French

Maths

Physics

PE

DEMA

ESOL

English

 

S4- S6 College applications

College applications are open for S4-6 pupils planning to leave at the end of June 2016.  For further information pupils should see Mr Macpherson, Mrs Johnson, Vicky Madigan (Employment and Skills Manager) or David Muir (SDS Careers Advisor).

S3/4/5 Options – February/ March 2016

The programme for making subject choices is currently underway for S3/4/5.  An information evening for parents of S3 and S4 took place on Wednesday 10th February.    With the support of Ms Watt, Mrs Campbell, Mrs Johnston, Mr Macpherson, Personal Support Tutors and advisers from Skills Development Scotland pupils will complete option choices by the end of March. 

Please do not hesitate to contact Ms Watt or the appropriate pastoral care teacher if you have any questions relating to this.

ICT – for all

GLOW is an educational resource used by all schools in Scotland. The pupils and staff of Springburn Academy have had a GLOW account opened recently which means that every pupil at will have full access to Microsoft software both in and out of school.  This is an excellent resource for your child to use when working on school activities at home.  As we all get more familiar with using GLOW there will be many more resources posted to use to study with, for research and to improve pupils’ access to ICT to support them in achieving their best.  Pupils can access the internet (and their GLOW account) after school in the school library if they do not have internet access at home.

News from our PE department

S1 Health Day

Pupils enjoyed a fun filled active day that included: tennis, athletics, dodge-ball, Mao-tai, basketball and dance.  Linking with clubs within the community, pupils were involved in promoting 60 minutes of physical activity a day.

Senior Football Futsal tournament

Our senior boys made it to the semi-finals of the futsal tournament held at toll Ross leisure centre. The boys represented the school well but were narrowly defeated for a place in the final. Next time!

Giant Heptathlon

Athletics representatives from S1 and S2 enjoyed a day's competition at the Emirates Stadium. Teams battled within 7 competitive athletic disciplines. Team Springburn competed well and are looking forward to the upcoming cross country championships

Sports Leaders

Sports Leaders are currently excelling in their role engaging and encouraging all year groups to take part in activities at lunch time and after school. Many sports leaders have already completed the necessary coaching hours to achieve their award.

S2 peer assessor for NHS Smoke-line initiative

Following an assembly hosted by NHS, pupils were selected to enrol in a two day training programme to learn about the positives of a healthy smoke free lifestyle. They will then promote this to their peers at the S2 Health day.

Health and Wellbeing Magazine

Our HWB magazine has gone live on the Springburn Academy website. Thanks you to our health and wellbeing sports ambassadors and teacher working group for all contributions

Rugby referral group

Glasgow Rugby Development are working alongside the school promoting fair play and an active lifestyle using Rugby as a vehicle for learning.

Parent Council – Coffee and Cakes!!

The Parent Council will meet on Tuesday 23rd February at 6.30pm in the school and are currently looking for new members.  If you would be interested in becoming involved in the council please come along on Tuesday or contact Eddie Romeo, chair at springburnacademyparentcouncil@yahoo.co.uk

L Hamilton, HT

18/2/16